When can we expect a release ? One week ? One month ? This summer ?
That's hard to answer... certainly we can release without everything outlined in the OP and add stuff as we go but the main bot net code will need a lot of testing before release since you don't want to get into a place where genuine clients are denied coins for various reasons...
Sadly we're not inundated with people offering to code... hopefully this will change once we're able to offer bounties more substantial than (now) worthless altcoins.
Well you are the project manager. A project without a calendar isn't too serious. I know it's hard to plan like this but I think it is crucial to keep the interest of people here and also to give credibility to your project. I would post a calendar of planned events and modifiy it according to what happens along the way. And put some buffers. Let's say you think you need a 3 weeks beta, make it 4 and publish it....
My two worldo.